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LinkedIn BrandLink Ads: The B2B Guide
LinkedIn BrandLink Ads: The B2B Guide
BrandLink is LinkedIn’s contextual video format that runs your ad in-stream, just before high-quality video from trusted publishers and top creators in the feed — so your brand appears alongside content your audience already chooses to watch, rather than interrupting them. It’s the evolution of LinkedIn’s Wire Program, repositioned as a premium brand environment where credibility comes from association with respected voices. LinkedIn reports strong early results, and the format is clearly a brand-building play rather than a lead engine. This guide covers how BrandLink works, when it earns a place in a B2B plan, the pipeline-quality caveat, and how to measure a format built for recall rather than clicks.
Key takeaways
- BrandLink runs pre-roll video ads ahead of premium publisher and creator content in the LinkedIn feed.
- It builds credibility through association — your brand appears next to voices your audience already trusts.
- LinkedIn reports meaningfully higher video completion and view rates than standard video ads (treat as their figures).
- It’s an awareness format, not a lead engine — expect recall and warmed audiences, not cheap form fills.
- The pipeline play is to retarget BrandLink viewers with down-funnel formats and measure downstream conversion.
What is LinkedIn BrandLink?
BrandLink lets advertisers run in-stream, pre-roll video ads directly before editorial content from approved publishers and creators inside the LinkedIn feed. Rather than a standalone sponsored video, your ad is delivered in the context of “Shows by LinkedIn” — curated video content on themes like the CEO playbook, AI and innovation, scaling a business, and entrepreneurship. Publisher partners have included names such as Adweek, Fast Company, Morning Brew, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, TED, and The Economist, alongside creators like Steven Bartlett, Guy Raz, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Operationally, once you identify a participating creator or publisher to align with, you run a self-serve in-stream video ad through Campaign Manager, using LinkedIn’s first-party professional data to target by job title, company, location, and language. It runs on both mobile and desktop. Because this is a newer, fast-evolving offering, the exact publisher and creator roster and buying options shift — confirm current availability before planning.
Why does context matter for B2B video?
Because in B2B, trust is the scarce resource, and where your ad appears shapes how it’s received. When your video runs ahead of content from a respected publisher or creator, it borrows some of that credibility — the viewer is already engaged and paying attention, so your message lands in a receptive moment rather than mid-scroll. LinkedIn frames this as association: aligning your brand with trusted voices transfers some of their authority to you.
That’s the whole premise. A standard in-feed video interrupts; a BrandLink ad arrives as the price of admission to content the viewer chose. LinkedIn reports that in-stream ads against publisher content have delivered around 130% higher completion rates and 23% higher view rates than standard video ads, with a lift in executive ad recall — figures worth treating as directional, since they’re LinkedIn’s own, but consistent with the logic that engaged viewers watch more.
When should you use BrandLink?
Use BrandLink when the job is brand-building and reach among a professional audience, not direct response. It fits upper-funnel campaigns: category education, brand awareness, and staying credible with senior audiences over a long buying cycle. It suits companies that have a clear message they want remembered, and it pairs naturally with a broader thought-leadership strategy, since both trade on credibility.
It’s a poor fit as a primary lead source. If your goal this quarter is qualified pipeline at a target cost per lead, BrandLink is not the tool — it’s the tool that makes those lower-funnel campaigns work better by building familiarity first.
The BrandLink pipeline framework
Make a brand format accountable by connecting it to down-funnel outcomes:
- Use it for awareness against a relevant audience — broad enough to build reach, still filtered to your ICP by LinkedIn’s professional data.
- Align with content your buyers actually value, choosing creators or publishers whose audience overlaps your market.
- Retarget viewers with your consideration and conversion campaigns — the warmed audience is where the pipeline value is realized.
- Measure recall and downstream conversion, not the cost per click of the BrandLink ad itself.
| Layer | Format | Job | Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness | BrandLink | Build recall via trusted context | Completion, view rate, recall |
| Consideration | Retargeting (Single Image, Document) | Educate warmed viewers | Engagement, cost per lead |
| Conversion | Retargeting (Lead Gen, demo) | Convert intent | Cost per SQL, pipeline |
How do you measure BrandLink?
On brand and downstream metrics, not direct clicks. Use video completion rate, view rate, and — where you have access to brand lift measurement — ad recall, to judge whether the format is doing its awareness job. Then measure the thing that actually matters: whether audiences exposed to BrandLink convert better in your retargeting and lower-funnel campaigns. Feeding conversion data back to LinkedIn and comparing exposed versus unexposed audiences is the honest read on whether the brand spend earned its keep. Judging BrandLink on immediate cost per lead will always make a working brand format look like a failure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is LinkedIn BrandLink?
BrandLink is LinkedIn’s contextual video format that runs pre-roll ads ahead of premium publisher and creator content in the feed. It’s the evolution of LinkedIn’s Wire Program, positioned as a premium brand environment where your ad appears alongside trusted voices, borrowing their credibility rather than interrupting the viewer mid-scroll.
Q2. How does BrandLink work?
You align your campaign with a participating creator or publisher, then run a self-serve in-stream video ad through Campaign Manager using LinkedIn’s first-party targeting by job title, company, location, and language. Your video plays ahead of that creator or publisher’s content, curated within “Shows by LinkedIn,” on both mobile and desktop.
Q3. Is BrandLink good for B2B lead generation?
Not directly. BrandLink is a brand-building and reach format, so it builds recall and familiarity rather than generating cheap form fills. Its pipeline value comes from making your lower-funnel campaigns more efficient — retargeting viewers who now recognize your brand — not from converting them on the BrandLink ad itself.
Q4. How is BrandLink different from a standard video ad?
A standard in-feed video ad stands alone and interrupts the scroll. A BrandLink ad runs in-stream, ahead of content the viewer chose to watch from a trusted publisher or creator, so it arrives in a receptive moment and borrows that source’s credibility. LinkedIn reports higher completion and view rates as a result.
Q5. What does BrandLink cost and who can use it?
BrandLink is a self-serve in-stream format bought through Campaign Manager, but availability, buying options, and the publisher and creator roster are evolving as LinkedIn expands the program. Because specifics shift, confirm current access, pricing structure, and available partners in Campaign Manager or with your LinkedIn representative before planning a campaign.
Q6. Which publishers and creators are available on BrandLink?
LinkedIn has partnered with publishers including Adweek, Fast Company, Morning Brew, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, TED, and The Economist, plus creators such as Steven Bartlett, Guy Raz, and Gary Vaynerchuk, organized into themed “Shows by LinkedIn.” The roster is expanding globally and multilingually, so check the current list before selecting a partner.
Q7. When should you use BrandLink instead of other formats?
Use it for upper-funnel brand building and reach among senior professional audiences, especially category education and staying credible across a long buying cycle. Choose lower-funnel formats like Lead Gen Forms or retargeting when the immediate goal is qualified pipeline. BrandLink builds the familiarity that makes those conversion campaigns perform better.
Q8. How do you measure BrandLink performance?
Use video completion rate, view rate, and ad recall where brand lift measurement is available to judge the awareness job. Then measure whether audiences exposed to BrandLink convert better in your retargeting and lower-funnel campaigns by comparing exposed and unexposed groups. Immediate cost per lead is the wrong metric for a brand format.
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